Some reflections on the legitimacy of international trial justice

Henham, R. ORCID: 0000-0002-5631-0214, 2007. Some reflections on the legitimacy of international trial justice. International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 35 (2), pp. 75-95.

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Abstract

This paper addresses a number of interrelated conceptual difficulties that impact adversely on the ability of international criminal trials to deliver outcomes perceived as legitimate by victims and communities in post-conflict states. It begins by exploring the extent to which those moral justifications for punishment espoused by international courts are instrumental in marginalizing the aspirations for justice of victims and victim communities, and suggests how a greater appreciation of the sociological context of punishing international crimes can contribute towards an improved understanding of normative practice. The paper then examines the relationship between perceptions of international crime and punishment, and the broader issue of whether international criminal law provides an appropriate normative structure for giving effect to those universal humanitarian values concerned with punishment in an increasingly pluralistic world. Finally, the paper considers how the theory and practice of punishing international crimes can more effectively satisfy both local and global aspirations for post-conflict justice through enhancing the transformative capacity of international criminal trials.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of the Sociology of Law
Creators:	Henham, R.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	2007
Volume:	35
Number:	2
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.ijsl.2007.03.001 DOI
Rights:	Copyright © 2007 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Law School
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:49
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:40
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/18609

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